Travel & Hospitality
What Travelers Actually Want from Loyalty Programs
Report summary
Loyalty and rewards programs have long been a part of the travel industry — airlines and hotels launched programs that rewarded frequent customers in the early 1980s, and nearly all major brands have a membership program today. What’s more, many brands have doubled down on their focus on loyalty during travel’s post-COVID return, in the hopes of capitalizing on recent enthusiasm and momentum in the industry. But travelers aren’t necessarily pleased with programs the way they are. From convoluted sign-ups to confusing rewards structures, consumers are often stymied and discouraged from participating altogether.
Morning Consult’s report What Travelers Actually Want from Loyalty Programs examines the attitudes, behaviors and expectations of travelers when it comes to loyalty and rewards programs. Based on a survey conducted October 10—11, 2024, among a representative sample of 4,450 U.S. adults and monthly survey interviews from October 2021 to March 2024 with around 2,200 U.S. adults each, this report provides insight into how these consumers interact with travel industry loyalty programs and what they want from brands.
Key Takeaways
- Despite brand investments, travel loyalty programs are not significantly growing their user base — overall loyalty usage has remained stagnant since 2021.
- Loyalty members factor in points and rewards early in the travel planning process, and streamlining redemption processes can encourage even more engagement.
- Brands must take a generational approach to recruiting new loyalty program members, as travelers of different ages have different expectations and behaviors.
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Methodology
This report is grounded in a survey conducted October 10-11, 2024, among 4,450 U.S. adults. It also includes data from surveys conducted from October 2021 to September 2024 among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults per month.
The interviews were conducted online, and the data was weighted to approximate respective populations of adults based on gender, educational attainment, race and region. Top-line results from all surveys have margins of error of up to +/-2 percentage points.
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